


Soulmates

by winterfool



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-27
Packaged: 2018-05-23 01:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6100039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterfool/pseuds/winterfool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermione has never been interested in finding her soulmate - in fact, she's decided she never wants to meet them at all. Life doesn't always work out the way you plan, though.</p><p>(Written for a Tumblr prompt, "soulmates au")</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“So, Bill’s getting married.”

Ron couldn’t have sounded less pleased with the announcement as he came back into the living room and flopped down beside Hermione. He ran a hand through his hair, his brows knitted together in a frown.

“He is?” Hermione asked, exchanging a glance with Harry, sat in the armchair opposite them.

“Apparently this Fleur girl he’s been seeing is his soulmate. They realised this weekend, and since their relationship has already been going so well they figured why wait?”

“Oh.”

Hermione shifted awkwardly in her seat, not really sure how to respond to the news. Finding her soulmate had never been high on her list of priorities, but she understood why Bill and Fleur would be excited about it.

When she was old enough to understand, her parents had sat her down and explained that while everyone was born with a soul mark somewhere on their body and, theoretically, there was someone out there with a matching soul mark, very few soulmates ever actually found each other. They themselves were not soulmates, at least not according to their marks, but that didn’t mean they didn’t love one another very much or weren’t happy. They wanted Hermione to know that although other people might pressure her to find her soulmate, it was possibly to lead a happy and fulfilled life without them.

She looked at her soul mark in the mirror curiously that evening, the first time she had ever really thought about it. It was a little like a tattoo, a small, dark patch of skin that looked like someone had painstakingly inked a feather onto her shoulder. It was pretty in its way but her parents were right; it certainly wasn’t anything to make a fuss about.

“And this is a bad thing …?” Harry asked now, saving her from having to come up with anything.

Ron shrugged. “No, not really. It’s just … my grandparents on both sides were soulmates, Mum and Dad are soulmates, and now Bill and Fleur? It just adds pressure.”

There was a beat after he spoke, and then as if realising what he had said he turned to Hermione with faint panic gleaming in his eyes.

“It’s not that, I mean, they love you, you know that, they think you’re great. They just wonder why we’ve never talked about it, that’s all.”

“It’s okay,” Hermione smiled, moving closer to him on the couch and taking his hand. “I get it.”

They had been dating for close to six months now. They had been hesitant about starting anything at first, having been best friends all through school and knowing it would inevitably prompt questions about whether or not their soul marks matched. But after a while it had become too difficult to pretend; to act like she didn’t have butterflies dancing in her stomach whenever Ron was around, or that when she was angry or upset or frustrated he was the one person she wanted to see because somehow he always managed to make her smile and laugh and feel better about herself, that just being around him made her happier, even when they were fighting.

By unspoken agreement, they had never talked about their soul marks. Whether they matched or not it would introduce pressure and expectation to their relationship, and could easily sour their feelings. It was easier to be happy and enjoy being together if they didn’t know.

If anything, falling for Ron had just confirmed for Hermione that soul marks didn’t matter. What was the point in spending her life pining after an ideal when there was a wonderful guy she cared about, and who cared about her, right there? Besides, she wanted choice in her life. She wanted to be with someone because she loved them, not because some random patch of skin told her they were ‘meant to be’.

Frankly, if someone walked into her life now with a soul mark to match hers she would just walk away from them.

Ron smiled at her now and leaned in to brush his lips over hers in a soft kiss. “Thanks.”

“Charlie and Percy and the twins haven’t found their soulmates yet, though,” Harry pointed out.

“True,” Ron admitted, settling back on the couch with his arm around Hermione.

“At least you have the option of hiding from yours,” Harry continued. “My soul mark’s a blazing signal right on my forehead.”

He pulled a face and they all laughed. Harry’s lightning-bolt shaped soul mark had been a frustration to him his whole life. It was the first thing people commented on when they met him, and even growing out his fringe didn’t help hide the thing completely.

“Also true,” Ron grinned, “As long as I never wear shorts, anyway.”

“Yeah, so just keep an eye out for anyone with a …” Harry paused, frowning. “What is your soul mark?”

Ron hesitated, glancing down at Hermione. She smiled and shrugged. The idea of knowing wasn’t so scary after six months; she knew how she felt about him, and that was enough for her.

Reaching down with his free hand, Ron started hitching up the leg of his jeans and held his calf out towards Harry.

“Weirder than a lightning bolt if you ask me,” he laughed.

Hermione looked down and immediately felt her breath catch in her throat. That swirl of darkened skin, forming a tiny but perfectly detailed feather was intimately familiar to her. It was the same mark she had looked at in the mirror.

She had never cared much whether she every found her soulmate or not. She had never expected to find him when she was already in love with him.


	2. Chapter 2

Ron finally found the courage to ask her about it that evening.

“I guess we’re not soulmates, then?” He was surprised at how even and steady his voice sounded, though that might have been because he wasn’t looking at her.

It had been a few hours since he finally showed his friends his soul mark. Harry had headed home not long after, but Hermione had stayed. They had shared one silent look, and then started talking about their plans for the weekend as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

But it niggled away at him. It had been easy to pretend their soul marks didn’t exist when neither of them had ever seen the other’s. They couldn’t keep ignoring it now. It was a conversation they had to have, and while he was washing up the last of the dishes and Hermione was leaning against the kitchen counter behind him seemed as good a time as any.

Ron had heard Hermione’s intake of breath as he pulled up his trouser leg, felt her momentarily stiffen where she was leaning into him. He hadn’t realised until that moment how much her reaction meant to him, but it was like a physical blow; the air was knocked out of him and a cold knot had settled in the bottom of his stomach.

If he was honest, he hadn’t really expected them to be matches. That would have been too perfect. But even if he had never admitted it to himself, he had hoped …

“Ron …” Hermione’s voice was tense, and when he glanced over his shoulder he could see she was holding herself tightly, arms drawn in, like she used to when she was worrying about exams at school.

“It’s okay,” he hastened to assure her, “I mean, it’s just, now we know.”

He looked down at the soapy water and told himself this wasn’t going to break them.

The idea of his soulmate had caused him nothing but anxiety for most of his life. Despite how rare they were, he had grown up in the shadow of three sets of soulmates. Watching his parents and grandparents a child and thinking how perfectly they suited each other, like puzzle pieces, he had be overwhelmed by the worry that there was nothing like that out there for him.

For one of his older brothers, maybe. For him? Nah.

But would his parents, who had somehow beaten astronomical odds to find each other, understand him being with someone who wasn’t his soulmate?

Hermione and her concept for soul marks had been a breath of fresh air. Ron would have fallen in love with her just for the way she would turn to people at school who were trading fairy tale scenarios of how they would meet their match and say, “You do know fewer that two per cent of soul mates ever actually find each other? And that people who stop looking for their soul mates on average lead much happier and more fulfilled lives?”

But it wasn’t just her fierce intelligence that amazed him. It was her desire to learn, to everything about the world around her and do something useful with it. The way she would stand up for people and was determined to make the world a fairer, better place. Her kindness, although if you didn’t know her well it was very easy to mistake for bossiness.

He only had to look at her to know he really didn’t care what marks they had, he would walk through hell and high water to be with her and screw anyone who thought there could be anyone he could ever love more than her.

“You really think it’s okay?” she asked behind him, a pensive tone to the question.

He turned around to face her, grabbing a towel from the counter to dry his hands. “Well. Yeah. Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know. Your family legacy.” A tiny curl of her lips told him she was half-joking, but he could also see in her eyes that she was half-serious.

“My family legacy’s being with the people they love.” That was something his mother had told him once, when he broke down and confessed his anxieties to her. He was happy to pretend the eloquence was his own right now, though. “That and, you know, being ginger.”

She laughed, her eyes shining, and he could tell his words had eased some worry within her. That knowledge eased his own concern.

“Hermione … I know how I feel about you. And if you’re not my soulmate, well, then, I don’t want one.”

A blush had painted her cheeks and nose pink, but she was smiling. And there was something in her face, some expression he had never seen before and couldn’t quite put a name to.

“Do you know why I hate the idea of soulmates?” she asked. He shook his head. “Because I felt like it took away my choice. The idea that someone could turn up in my life and say I had to be with them because of some birthmark made me angry.”

“You wouldn’t have to be them,” Ron frowned, confused. “If you really didn’t want to.”

“I know that. Theoretically. It’s just … I want someone who wants to be with me because of me. Because they love me. Just for me. Not because some patch of skin says they’re supposed to.”

His face cleared in understanding and he smiled. “Good thing we’ve got that covered then.”

To his surprise she just laughed. Then shaking her head, she bit her lip and gave him that strange look again.

“Ron …”

“What?”

She lifted a hand and pulled down the neck of her tshirt to bare her shoulder, then twisted so he could see the back. There was a mark, like a tattoo, tiny and detailed, curled into the shape of feather.

Identical to his.

He stared at her, unable to breathe. She gave him a nervous smile, covering her shoulder back up and then stepped forward to place a hand on his chest. He brought his own hand up to cover hers as shock gave way to joy that bubbled out of him as a disbelieving laugh.

His shoulders shook with it and that set Hermione giggling, and then they were both crying and laughing, foreheads resting against each other and hands tangled together.

In between laughs Ron pressed a kiss against her cheek, her nose, her eyelids, anywhere his mouth would reach until his found her lips. She rose up on to her toes to kiss him back, getting as close to him as she physically could.

“I guess … this means … you’re happy?” she asked when they both had their breath back.

Ron let his eyes trace over every inch of his face. The girl he already knew and loved. His soulmate.

“Happy doesn’t even begin to cover it.”


End file.
